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Amunavid Dynasty
The Amunavid dynasty is the ruling dynasty of the Ardenian peninsula and the archipelago of Infermia. The dynasty is arguably the richest state in the modern world and boasts one of the largest military forces. History Pre- Amuna days The Amunavid dynasty is situated on the Ardenian peninsula, which first became populated around 5000 years ago, during the great migration. The first notable people to settle there were the Joman civilization, who made their empire in the lands around Garmoun bay sometime around 3000 BF. The Joman empire was the dominant power in Ardenia for around 300 years, until the Karput empire, a state in the southernmost part of Irgon, rose to challenge the Jomans for supremacy. Many wars were fought between the two empires, and for around 650 years none of the empires managed to gain a significant advantage over the other. So in around 2000 BF, the emperors of both states respectively signed the Treaty of neglect. The treaty made it so that the states would not interfere in any of each other's businesses and would close their borders to each other completely. Some years after this a civilization known as the Anari, native to the mountains of Kurs, began expanding in every direction. So in the year 1600 BF, the Anari had expanded so far that they mirrored the Jomans' and the Karput's power, if not surpassing it. But unlike the Jomans and Karputs, the Anari were never a unified people, instead a collection of farming communities and centralized states. At this time, the Joman empire's economy was suffering due to costly and ill conceived trading missions, most of which failed to bring any profit. So in 1530 BF, a Joman general named Rayneh invaded one of the richer Anari states. His conquest was a huge success, bringing many riches to the Empire and earning Rayneh huge political support. But Rayneh was an ambitious man, and after the success of his first invasion, there was little chance that he wouldn't attempt to do it again. Apparently he was so confident in his victory, that he decided to invade the largest Anari state of all, the realm of the Buhngvid dynasty. Rayneh confidence appears to have been misplaced, for his army was defeated one of its first battles against the Buhngvids. Although he managed to reassemble his forces and rally them to fight again, he was again defeated against the now enormous army of the Buhngvids. Taking credit for repelling the foreign invaders, the Brachos of the Buhngvids united all the Anari states under one banner. He then sent a secret message to the Karput emperor, proposing a joint Karput- Buhngvid invasion of the Jomans. The Karput emperor accpted, and in 1524 BF, they invaded the Joman empire. The Joman's forces were obliterated by the sheer numbers of the invaders' forces. The Jomans capital, the ancient city of Fhela was razed to the ground, and most of the Jomans' written history was lost. After this, the Karputs and Buhngvids had a debate over how much land each of them should get. The Karputs believed the territory should be split in half, while the Buhngvids thought they should get more, since they had suffered more in the fighting. In the end there was no agreement made. A few days later, the Buhngvid Brachos declared war upon the Karputs. Initially, the Karputs had the upper hand, having occupied more Joman lands and having greater numbered forces. However, the after the Buhngvids won a series of small victories against the Karputs, the emperor assembled all his forces to crush the Buhngvid army and march into their heartland. Along the way, the emperor's army encountered numerous small Buhngvid garrisons stationed in forts, towns, cities or even villages, all of whom refused to surrender, causing the Karputs to fight them. This allowed the Buhngvids to assemble their on large army to fight the Karputs. The following battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Buhngvids, and the death of the Karput emperor. The death of the emperor allowed the religious group of Jordoxians to take control and establish the Karput Confederation, a theocratic state ruled by a council of priests. After the war, the Anari began settling the area that was once the Joman empire. Although the Buhngvids tried to hold on to their domination of the Anari, their empire quickly fell apart after a series of indecisive rulers. In the year 0 AF, numerous Anari states cover most of the Irgon peninsula, all ruling in the same style as the Buhngvids did. Eve of Amuna's conquests A few of the Anari states rose to become great powers after the collapse of the Buhngvids. One of them was Hleikom, a city-state focused mainly on commerce and colonization. It had a powerful navy that they used to set up colonies in Infermia, so to trade with Casary. Another of the great Anari powers was Karabi. By far the largest city in Ardenia at the time, Karabi dominated the northern territories of the peninsula through its large but disciplined land army. Last but not least of the great powers is Najar. The city-state of Najar had both a powerful navy and a large army. It was also rich due to its important geographical position to trade. Najar rivaled both Hlukom and Ulanbitar in all aspects, so they became natural enemies. Najar even established colonies in Infermia just as Hlukom did, prompting a war between the Najar and Hlukom. This rivalry between the states stayed relatively unchanged for some years, until in 227 AF when Karabi was invaded by the Yonnu, the nomadic tribe that had destroyed the Kingdom of Campania. Karabi's army was overwhelmed by the Yonnu's horse archers and sheer numbers. After 3 weeks of fighting, the city of Karabi was razed to the ground and most of its inhabitants slaughtered. The Yonnu then moved south to ravage many small Anari states, slaughtering up to a million people. The army then headed north-eastward, to take Najar. Torn apart by a recent civil war and the weak rule of Brachos Raeyn Najarvid, Najar looked to be easy prey for the Yonnu. But during the Yonnu's siege of Najar, Raeyn passed away, leaving the throne to his daughter, Amuna. Amuna's succession Brachos Raeyn had two children, a son named Dehsyn and a daughter named Amuna. During Dehsyn's 27 year life, he was always considered to be his father's heir. However, when peasants revolted against Raeyn's rule due to unhappiness with taxes, Dehsyn was killed while leading the army against the rebels. This sent Raeyn into a deep state of depression, and he became incapable of leading the state in one of its darkest hours. Many in the army deserted, with some of the former commanders and generals carving up their own micro kingdoms out of Najar's territory. Raeyn then became very ill, and his cousin Loreo Makan appointed himself as regent. Loreo launched military campaigns to try and retake the lost territories from the rebels, and despite lacking severely in manpower, he saw some initial success but was halted at the battle of Jingmeiri hill. While this civil war in Najar was raging, an event happened that would change not just Ardenia, but all of Mikana. The Yonnu empire invaded the Ardenian peninsula with half a million steppe warriors, pillaging and razing every city in their path. They first invaded the territory of Karabi, which was at the time the most powerful city in Ardenia. The Karabi armies put up a brave resistance against the invaders, but ultimately couldn't put up a real challenge against the overwhelming horde. Karabi city was stormed by 100,000 warriors and razed to the ground. This first phase of the invasion may have displaced as many as 2 million people, and left a million more dead. Most of those displaced fled to the south or east, many of them fleeing to Najar despite the civil war. The arrival of the refugees put and end to most of the fighting in Najar, as the warring factions banded together over the overwhelming threat of the Yonnu. Those factions that wished to continue fighting were put down swiftly by the now large united Najari army, bolstered by a large number of refugee soldiers. Loreo welcomed all of the refugees and offered them all temporary asylum within Najars' territories, but he was hesitant of letting them into the city of Najar itself. Meanwhile, the Yonnu ravaged the heartlands of Anari culture, destroying the great cities of Fuhn and Naipen. After all but destroying central Ardenia, the Yonnu army swung back north towards Najari lands. Panic ensued as thousands of refugees tried to enter the capital. Loreo knew that every refugee outside the city would be slaughtered, so he agreed to let a sizable portion of both refugees and peasants from Najari farms. The Yonnu arrived on the 14th of June, 228, and just as predicted, slaughtered every person outside the walls of Najar. During the time that the Yonnu were preparing for the siege of the city, Brachos Raeyn died of his illness, and his only surviving daughter Amuna was crowned the new Brachos. Siege of Najar Amuna was 21 years old when she was crowned Brachos, and under normal circumstances would have assumed full power. But this was not advised as the city was currently under siege, so Loreo was appointed to remain as regent until the siege was lifted. The Yonnu commanders knew they had to assault the city and take it by force, for starving a city with completely intact naval supply lines was near impossible. And so the Yonnu launched several assaults at the city walls, all of which were repelled by the defenders. Loreo himself was stationed on the wall with his men, as he believed it would bolster their morale. 6 times he and his 15,000 men stood their ground against the hundreds of thousands of Yonnu attackers. But during the seventh assault, disaster struck as Loreo was hit with and arrow into his throat and died a few moments later. The assault was again repelled, but at a great cost as only 8,000 of the defenders remained in fighting condition. This was when Amuna was forced to assume full power and take control of the city. She began by conscripting and forcing the refugees and peasants into the garrison forces. This bolstered their numbers to around 30,000, although they were not as proficient. She then sent letters to all neighboring states asking for help, arguing that if the Yonnu are not stopped here, they will conquer all of Ardenia and could ruin the national economy. She even sent letters to Rudia, although she never got any replies. But what was surprising was that Hleikom, the old enemy and rival of Najar, answered the call for help with a reinforcements of 5,000 soldiers and 50 ships carrying supplies and armaments. In Omagi, there was heavy debating over weather to interfere, but the pacifist argument ultimately won and Omagi stayed neutral. But Omagi's most prominent mercenary leader, Donn Salana, shared Amuna's views of the Yonnu and was furious over his city's decision. He decided to take his company, comprised of over 8,000 mercenaries total, to Najar and fight for Amuna for free. With the reinforcements from Hleikom and Omagi, and the rapd conscriptions, Amuna now possessed and army of nearly 80,000. With the weapons from Hleikom, this new army easily repelled the largest Yonnu assault so far. Now it was obvious to everyone that the Yonnu were never going to win, and would have to retreat and regroup. But Amuna didn't want that, she wanted to crush the Yonnu once and for all. On the night of the 18th of February, Amuna prepared a small team of Omagi mercenaries to sneak to the behind the Yonnu's camp and attack them, all of them lighting several fires along the way as to appear as a large horde. Meanwhile the main army will attack the Yonnu from the front, and with the mercenaries attacking from behind with torches and giving the Yonnu the illusion that they were surrounded. The plan worked, the Yonnu army was shattered, causing a rout all the way back to their homeland. The Yonnu had around 450,000 warriors at the start of the siege, but only around 100,000 of them ever returned home. Unification of Ardenia Amuna rewarded those who had aided them in the siege well. She made Donn Salana her marshal and sent lavish diplomatic gifts to Hleikom. Her new grand army marched out of Najar to reconquer territory lost to the Yonnu, including Karabi's old territory. As a reward for the Karabi people's bravery during the siege, Amuna built them a new city, close to their old city but built on the coast so it could be evacuated easier. This city was then named New Karabi in 231 AF. With these annexations, Amuna realized that she now had the largest ardenian empire since that of the Buhngvids, and was even in a position to unite all of Ardenia. Despite her advisers arguing against this by reminding her of the Buhngvids untimely demise, she went ahead with her ambition. She began acquiring several small states by bringing them under her protection as protectorates or buying them as client states. She brought Hleikom into the empire by marrying the heir to the throne, and combined their realms and armies. Omagi, the state that had decided to stay neutral during the siege of Najar, was forced into the realm by the pressure of the Amunavids' enormous army, and Donn Salana was appointed as lord of Omagi under Amuna. After the annexation of Omagi, all of the anari states had been united under one for the second time in history. But the Karput Confederation still remained in the south, and Amuna knew that they would always try to undermine her authority and disrupt the unity of the dynasty. In 233 AF, Amuna invaded the Karputs with an army said to have numbered 350,000. She easily overpowered the Karput army and annexed their realm into her empire. But the Karputs were incredibly zealous and intolerant of other cultures and religions, so to keep order in her newly acquired territories, Amuna let the Kaprut clergy retain some authority and regional autonomy. Now, for the first time in history, all of Ardenia was united under a single ruler. Conquest of Rudia and Infermia Over the next 6 years, 233-239 AF, Amuna consolidated her new empire and improved its infrastructure. The capital Najar grew from 400,000 inhabitants to 900,000 during her reign. She financed several building projects, resulting in awe inspiring monuments, places of worship and other magnificent buildings. Amuna also financed colonization efforts in the archipelago of Infermia, where Hleikom and Najar already had sizable colonies. But Infermia was a contested region at the time, with Rudia and the Holy Kingdom of Casary both holding sizeable territory there. Peace was withheld for only a short time after Amuna announced the effort. In 239, an Amunavid naval convoy attempted to settle on the island of Ileminiam, an island which was under Rudian sovereignty. The Amunavid convoy was slaughtered, with only two small ships escaping back to Najar, bringing the news of the massacre to Amuna herself. It is not clear whether Amuna jumped at this excuse for war, or had no other choice but to enter an unwanted conflict. In any case, Amuna assembled an army of 200,000 of her best warriors, including Donn and his Omagi troops, and Marched them towards Anbhurt, the nearest Rudian province located just a few kilometers north of Najar. Meanwhile, the rudian Shaar named Caeros, the ruler of Rudia, prepared his own army. He called up both his personal army and his vassals from all over the empire, resulting in a force that may have numbered up to 600,000. Caeros' army included a thousand war-elephants, a hundred battle-rhinos and hundreds of other exotic creatures that the men of Amuna's army had never seen before. But this army was slow and cumbersome, so by the time they reached the borders of Anbhurt, Amuna's army had already seized the entire province, aside from the provincial capital of Qarda, which was still besieged by Amuna. But Qarda lay near the borders that Caeros' army was crossing, so Amuna would soon be surrounded by him and the garrison of Qarda. Amuna knew she needed to capture the city before Caeros arrived, so fortunately her engineers had been hard at work digging a tunnel that went under the walls and into the city. No more than three days before Caeros arrived, the engineers completed the tunnel and Amuna sent Donn Salana and his troops into the city to lift the gates for her army. The plan worked, although at the cost of many Omagi troops, and Amuna's army stormed the city. Within the day she controlled the entire city, but Caeros' army was now only two days away from them. A few days earlier, Amuna had heard from her scouts that Caeros had split his army into two equal sections, apparently thinking Amuna had done the same. He had immense confidence in his army's victory, as he had almost three times as many soldiers and a horde of war-elephants. Amuna needed to separate the armies, so she sent a diversionary force of 5,000 to march west, luring the half of the army that Caeros himself lead, while the other half would continue its course to Qarda. Amuna then left the city, leaving behind 30,000 men as garrison. She told her soldiers that she would be marching west to fight Caeros', while the other half was distracted besieging Qarda. The rudian force arrived ten days later, and prepared to besiege the city. But in the middle of their preparations, a large force suddenly sprang from the nearby mountains and swarmed their camps. Unbeknownst to everyone, even the city garrison, Amuna had been hiding right next to Qarda the whole time, to catch the rudian army offguard. Her army attacked the rudian force from the north, while the garrison opened the city gates and attacked the army themselves from the south. The amunavid troops fired flaming arrows at the rudian elephants, causing them to go berserk and trample their own men. The rudian army was shattered, with 200,000 of them dead or captured and the rest fleeing back to their homeland. Amuna only lost around 20,000 of her troops. This was a devastating defeat for the rudians, and when Caeros got the news of it he was said to have sliced the messenger in half with his great-sword. He now realized he was only pursuing a diversionary force, and so turned around to destroy the real Amunavid army. But during the way his army was harassed multiple times by the Amunavid diversionary force and scouts, losing much of their supply line. But Caeros it seems was to busy with revenge to focus on petty things like that. He was reported to have been so furious, that nobody even dared to give him news of the harassments. One day, the rudian army was marching through a mountain pass, where they were ambushed by Amuna's army and slaughtered almost to the last man, with Caeros himself among the dead. The Rudian army was now defeated completely, and by a force nearly three times smaller and that had suffered almost no casualties. Amuna now easily advanced into Athuria, capturing town after town without any resistance. A succession squabble ensued in Rudos after the death of Caeros, but after 2 weeks a man named Khola was elected Shaar. He tried his best to assemble a new army in defence of the capital of Karmad, but Caeros had completely drained the empire's manpower, and thus he could barely assemble a puny force of 30,000 men. By the time he had done that, Amuna had seized over half of the entire empire, and other lands had risen in revolt against rudian rule. There was nothing left that Khola could do. In march, 241 AF, he surrendered to Amuna and was subsequently dethroned. Amuna was now Grand Brachos of Ardenia, Shaaress of Rudia, Queen of Athuria and ruler of Infermia. New Superpower Amuna spent the rest of the year bringing all of the former territories of Rudia to heel. The Kozuts of northern Rudia had rebelled against their former masters and aided the Amunavids in their conquest, so Amuna rewarded them with an independent state of their own, albeit a client state to her empire. To the territories that had stayed loyal to the rudians she treated harshly. She used a tactic that the Erinian empire would frequently mimic centuries later, where she took cities and divided their populations into three parts. One part she would enslave, another she would simply slaughter, and the final she would let live. She did this to numerous cities in the south of Rudia and in Rudos itself, and then appointed Anari governors to them. She even gave Karmad iself to her husband from Hleikom. Meanwhile, she laid claim to every single island in the Infermian archipelago aside from the few island controlled by the H.K. of Casary. Amuna's empire was now a true superpower, ruling over almost 35% of the world's population and possessing the world's fastest growing economy. Amuna's conquest of Rudia, understandably sent shockwaves throughout the known world. The power vacuum left by the Camponian empire had finally been filled, leaving many Casarians very concerned over a rival military and economic superpower, which had the potential to eclipse them very soon. Plans were proposed for a casarian invasion of the Amunavids, with the goal of liberating Rudia, Infermia and the Karputs. These plans were secretly accepted by the holy king Nurin, and preparations for a large scale invasion began in 242. Meanwhile, the amunavids set up trad agreements with dovanian states such as Seria, Parsis and Noge, and sent trading missions to Kai Nem, Khun and even as far as the Nordican kingdom. Trading missions to the east did not go as well, as Casary had put a trading ban on the Amunavids and attacked every amunavid convoy that entered their waters. Tensions were extremely high with Casary in the years 242-245, and when Amuna heard from her spies that Casary was preparing a full scale invasion, she assembled her army and prepared to strike first. Start of the Bungal war The Bungal war was Amuna's last and bloodiest war. It costed millions of lives for both sides and devestated both the Amunavid and Casarian empires. Amuna began the war in 245 by seizing the casarian border town of Boriag with and army numbering 300,000. The casarians were only a few months away from fully preparing their intended invasion force of Rudia, so they already had an enormous army to meet Amuna's. The size of the two forces was unprecidented, each side possessing hundreds of thousands of foot soldiers, cavalrymen, archers and possessing thousands of war beasts. Amuna had her elite Omagi corp, lead by Donn Salana, who would act as her second-in-command during the war. Both sides also had sizeable navies which would clash in Infermia, although the amunavid forces lead by Amuna's husband would wield great superiority. The casarian land army had been in preperations for years, so to say it was a formidable force would be an understatement. It is said to have numbered perhaps over a million men, an astounding 1.5% of the casarian continent's entire population. Amuna's personal army numbered 300,000 while she also had 300,000 more reserves stationed in Rudia. An army that was composed of rudians, karputs, anari and infermians. This jumble of ethnicities created some tension in the army which lead to some occasional riots, but otherwise is worked well as the different kinds of units complimented each other and the varying types of terrain. Since Amuna had heard that the casarians were planning for an invasion of Rudia, she decided against a defence and instead opted to invade Casary herself, catching her enemies offguard. She invaded the bungal peninsula in 245 and the war began in ernest. "Her name was death" In the years following the bungal war, Amuna gained a reputation in Casary somewhat akin to being the devil's assistant, and one can somewhat see why. Amuna's annoyance of the zelous casarian population pushed her to extremes, she abandoned her strategy of dividing town into three parts and instead took to only dividing them into two halves, one to enslave and one to slaughter. She did this to every single town that made any kind of resistance to her army, which counted for around 90% of the cities she captured. She advanced into Seringia, central bungals, sacking town after town until reaching the capital Belarevon. There, she found half a million casarian soldiers waiting for her in defence of the city. She attacked the massed casarian positions, hoping to surround them despite her inferior numbers and cause a mass rout. The following battle lasted for 2 days, and although Amuna's forces carried the day, they did so at the cost of over 60,000 men. The enemy army was not entirely crushed either, with 400,000 of them fleeing to later regroup with the main casarian army. Amuna laid siege to the city, but later found that she was in an impossible position to capture it, concidering that the main casarian force was nearing her position. She lifted the siege and marched south to Gropis, escaping the grasp of the much slower main casarian force. She enacted a scorched earth tactic as she reatreated, destoying the vast wheatfields of Seringia and burning every village on her way. She then entered Mikarae itself, one of the oldest nations of the know world and a bastion of culture and history. Casarian propaganda describes how she burned and destoyed cities that had been inhabited since the time of the great migrations. How she toppled glorious monuments and great feats of ancient architecture like she was clearing a forrest. The part about Amuna destroying the culture of the world was perhaps slightly exeggerated by casarian propaganda, but no one can deny the brutality that followed her campaign. Mikarae' entire population is said to have dropped by a whole 30%, which is more than a million people dead. By 247, Amuna's fleet had secured the entire Infermian ocean, even seizing Magney, the largest and most populous island of Infermia. They had also secured all coastal regions of Gropis, including the provincial capital of Alldon. After Amuna sacked the ancient city of Cartax, she marched her army to Alldon to have her army evacuated before the main casarian force arrived, and suggested burning the city down before they went. Some of her advisors, including Donn Salana, disagreed with this suggestion and showed sympathy towards the Mikarae people, and didn't want to see the cultural marble that was Alldon get destoyed. Amuna argued that she didn't want to leave anything for the enemy to use against the dynasty, and in the end her arguement won and her army burned the city to the ground. The historian Kejun romanticizes the destuction of the city in his poem. She walked among the ghost Her feet wading in blood Her touch turns it to ash Destoying the breast That fed the world Her name was death And ash swirled around her By the time the casarian army arrived, the city had already been destroyed, and Amuna's army had been evacuated. The commander of the army had planned to resupply in Alldon, but was now forced to turn his starving force around and head north. 100,000 men died in the attrition that followed. The entire casarian continent was outraged when news spread of the devestation of Mikarae, and full support went into the war against Amuna. The goal of the war was now not only to liberate Rudia, but to depose Amuna and bring her to justice for her crimes. Amuna's army landed in Rudia and joined up with the reserves who had been quelling revolts by the rudians. Now, with all her army together in one place, Amuna's army still wasn't even half as large as the enormous casarian army, which was now the largest army ever assembled in human history. But an extreme stroke of luck occured, just as the casarian army had been resupplied and was planning to march for Rudia. The island nation of Yurgana, longtime rival of Casary, invaded its neighbor and seized huge swaths of land in a matter of weeks. The casarian army had no choice but to split in two, one marching for Rudia and the other for the Yurganan invasion force. The commanders of the army knew that a single half of the army would not be enough to best Amuna's elite forces, but were forced to invade Rudia despite this. Amuna's forces had a tough time defending against the still numerically superior casarian forces, and were pushed all the way back to Rudos, where they managed to hold their ground and fight off the casarians. However, the casarians were not entirely defeated, and started to loot and sack the surrounding towns and villages, applying the same scorched earth tactic that Amuna used in Gropis. In the meantime, Amuna faced further revolts from the rudians, but she couldn't move her army from Rudos or she'd lose the capital permenantly either to the casarians or rudian rebels. When all hope seemed lost, an event occured that would change Amuna's situation entirely, for better or for worse is up for debate. The Yonnu invaded again. Second Yonnu invasion The Yonnu had not been entirely defeated during their invasion of Ardenia. Although most of their army had been lost, they still possessed a sufficient base of manpower to raise a second army. This army was almost as large as the first, a total of around 450,000 steppe warriors, mercenaries and other warriors drafted from the Yonnu's subject nations. This time the Yonnu didn't invade Ardenia, instead opting to invade the exposed and vulnerable lands of Rudia and Anhburt. Hearing of this, the casarian army immediately retreated back to the bungals. That left only Amuna's weakened army left to oppose the immense Yonnu force. Things took a turn for the worse when Donn Selana fell ill and died just a few days later, in the beginning of 249 AF. Amuna was shaken by this great loss, as was the whole empire, but she was determined not to abandon her Rudian territories to the Yonnu despite her advisors' pleading. At the age of 41, Amuna set out for her final confrontation with the Yonnu. She waited for them in a valley named Jonaig, where she had excellent terrain advantage over the cavalry based Yonnu. But after months of fighting with the casarians, Amuna's army had taken massive casualties and what remained was little more than 200,000 against the 450,000 Yonnu. The first fight of the battle occurred on the 11th of March, but the battle wouldn't end until the 19th. The two armies clashed heavily against each other, with the Yonnu taking a larger beating at first, but they quickly withdrew to reorganize their plans. The Yonnu would after that skirmish with their horse archers, harassing the Amunavids and use their drafted subjects as meat shields to distract the enemy. Amuna had no way of countering this, and it seemed their defeat was assured. Amuna knew this, and refused to go down like a coward. As her advisors and their troops surrendered, Amuna gathered what was left of her loyal warriors, and charged the unsuspecting Yonnu. Her forces were outnumbered approximately 30 to 1, so we can assume Amuna knew it was a suicice charge. Nonetheless, Amuna's forces inflicted massive casualties on the Yonnu, so much so that they eventually had to retreat from Rudia entirely. According to anari historians, Amuna lead the charge herself and personally killed as many as 10 Yonnu herself. But sometime during the battle, her horse was killed by an arrow, and Amuna found herself surrounded and on foot. The Yonnu barraged her with arrows, but she kept fighting them until the 4th arrow hit her. The commander of the Yonnu himself then went up to Amuna to finish her off himself. As he readied his bow, Amuna uttered her legendary last words: "You shoot like a woman." The unnamed Yonnu commander then fired his arrow into Amuna's chest, killing the both revered and controversial leader. After the storm After Amuna's death, her throne fell to her oldest son, Srana Amunavid. Srana was a much more peaceful ruler than his mother, and strived to make amends for all the damage done in the Bungal War. He made peace with Casary and paid war reparations for Amuna's actions in the Bungal. He tried to hold on to Rudia for two more years, but after the Amunavid army was driven out completely, he made peace with the new Rudian Empire and recognized their sovereignty. The Amunavids were now limited to their holdings in Ardenia, Ahnburt and Infermia. Srana rebuilt the army, continued to build up Najar as a cultural center of the world, and promoted unity between the different states of the empire. That proved to be no easy task, as the Karputs in the south would rebel again and again. Eventually the Karputs were suppressed and order was restored. The Rudian Empire, meanwhile, had rebuilt its army and warrior culture and would soon fight the Amunavids again. During the reign of Hvun Amunavid in 301-356, the Amunavid-Rudian wars would begin, a bloody series of conflicts lasting to this very day. A Great Karput rebellion would occur in 530, and was only resolved with the complete autonomy of the Karput Confederation. The dynasty had seen a successful line of rulers since Amuna's death, with a few minor exceptions in between. Today, the dynasty still boasts one of the most powerful economies and militaries, although it has been overshadowed by the Erinian Empire in recent years. Geography Demographics The most prominent ethnic group in the Amunavid Dynasty are the anari. They count for around 75% of the entire population. The anari are the ruling class of the dynasty, therefore only anari people are eligible to be rulers and governors. Ardenia is mainly populated by the anari, with exceptions in the south that is populated by the Karput people. There are also sizeable colonies of anari people in Infermia. The second largest ethnic group are the karputs, living in the southernmost region of Ardenia, Karputia. They make up for around 7% of the dynasty's population and mostly stay within the boundraries of Karputia. In Ahnburt, there is a sizeable population of rudians, making for around 3% of the population. There are many Vorians living in their original homeland near Qarda, estimated to be around 4% of the population. The 11% left are mostly peoples indigenous to Infermia, the largest one being the Manoei, the largest and ruling ethnic group of Magney. Natural Geography The geography of the lands of the Amunavids are diverse. In Ardenia, there are steppe regions in the north, tall mountain ranges in the east, dry desert regions in central Ardenia and lush forests in the south. Ardenia has many rivers flowing through it, making the ground fertile in many places, notably in Karputia, Garmoun and near Najar. Ardenia notably lack much of a natural defense against the many nomadic tribes in the north, and thus the Great walls of Ardenia were built to slow down the troublesome invaders. Infermia lacks the diversity of Ardenia, mostly featuring forests or jungle heavy regions. Infermia also includes numerous active volcanos, including Mount Tryahar on the island of Jumajala, considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. Political Geography The Amunavid dynasty is currently the second largest state in the world, after the Erinian Empire. It borders two other states, Erinian Empire and Rudia. The Amunavids and Rudia are outright hostile to each other, while their relation with Erinia is not as difficult. Erinia has many trading ports in Garmoun, Karputia and Infermia that they own in all but name. This has caused quite some tension between the two states, but otherwise they enjoy cordial relations. Other nations near the Amunavids include the Krighoz kingdom, which the Amunavid government had publicly condemned, and the Holy Kingdom of Casary, which is still hostile to the Amunavids over the events in the Bungal War. Religion Jabal Ever since the Anari first appeared in 1900 BF, they've been heavily influenced by the teachings of Jabal, an Anari philosopher believed to have been alive sometime in the 22nd century BF. According to ancient texts, Jabal taught religious tolerance and openness, duty to one's family and the freedom of spirit. There are also rumors of other texts, stating that Jabal had denounced centralized authority and all higher powers. If these texts ever existed, then they have long since been destroyed. Today, Jabal is often prayed to, though many of its followers would not have it classed as a religious group. Jabalists once made up most of the anari population, but has in recent centuries dropped to around 20%, as it's overtaken by Vaygn Vaygn Unlike Jabalism, everyone agrees that Vaygn is a religion. The followers of Vaygn believe in the gods of Ulema, a giant castle floating on a cloud high in the sky. The leader of the gods is Zodak, the god of the earth and the sky. He has three daughters, Oma the goddess of love and fertility, Lowa the goddess of water and the sea, and Yaona the goddess of war and bravery. They have many daughters and sons which are in turn also gods. For example, Amuna the Great is concidered a god in Vaygn, said to have descended from Yaona herself. Others include Konon, the god of commerce and finance, and Faldin, the god of weather. Vaygn followers would pray to each god individually, often bringing tribute and sacrifices to their monuments. Once a year, a human is sacrificed to please Zodak, usually by being gutted alive and hanged on a 12 meter pole, so that Zodak could feed on the sacrifice's essence. Today, more than 45% of the dynasty's population adhere to Vaygn. And although the rulers of dynasty would traditionally follow Jabalism, in recent years they have adopted a duology of faiths, where they would pray to both Jabal and Zodak. Jordoxism In the south of Ardenia is a Karput, single god religion called Jordoxism. Originally only a small religion during the imperial age of Karputia, until its followers instigated a religious revolution and established a theocratic state called the Karput Confederation. Its followers believe that a man named Cabal Jordox was the descendant of god. Cabal preached about how there was only one god, and he would not have it that any other gods be worshiped except him. The Karput emperor persecuted the religion and killed Cabal, which sent his followers retreating towards the far south, where they founded the holy city of Jumajala. During the Karput's war with the Buhngvids, the emperor's popularity diminished greatly, which the Jordoxists used to stage a revolution against him. After the establishment of the confederation, the Jordoxists moved the capital to Jumajala and wrote the 8 holy rules. Rule 1. Never shall one doubt god's name and his might. Rule 2. Never shall one harm or kill another of god's followers. Rule 3. Never shall one steal from or lie to another of god's followers. Rule 4. Alway shall one honor the sacred bond of man and woman. Rule 5. Always shall one protect Jumajala and keep it holy. Rule 6. One shall always be generous and kind to another of god's followers. Rule 7. It is one's duty to prevent slander and defilement of god's image. Golden rule/rule 8. It is the sacred duty of every one of god's followers to bring justice to the heretics. Today Jordoxism is the sole religion of Karputia and is not found in many other lands. They count for 7% of the Amunavid population, and stay mostly isolated from the other religions. Jordoxism is one of the most controversial religions of the world, criticised for being intolerant, fanatical, barbaric and backwards. However, the most criticised aspect of the religion is undoubtably its avocation of slavery. Although illegal by Amunavid law, the Karput slave market is the largest one in the world, and is especially reviled among the four powers. Category:States